1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile terminal, and in particular, to a method and system for partially restricting the use of additional functions of a mobile terminal within a particular area.
2. Description of the Related Art
The proliferation of mobile terminals has accelerated the deployment of various additional functions besides the basic call functionality. The additional functions include a digital camera function for capturing still images and moving pictures, a download function for downloading data from a computer, and a recording function for recording voice or sounds input through a microphone. Despite increased user convenience and fun, the use of such additional functions faces new problems including loss of privacy, illegal information acquisition and distribution, and leakage of security information. For example, some users illegally copy book contents or visually record inside theaters by a phone camera, download confidential data of a company, or secretly record a conversation. Such illegal information acquisition is more harmful when the illegal information is distributed to an unspecified number of people on the Internet than when the illegal information is personally preserved.
In this context, many methods have been proposed to restrict the additional functions of mobile terminals when needed. For example, a mobile terminal is configured to create a specific sound, issue a notification message, or flash light when it photographs. Also, a system can be configured to block the execution of additional functions in a particular area.
Being notified of the execution of an additional function by generating some sound is rather a passive approach. With the passive approach, illegal data acquisition and leakage by the additional function is not prevented. Moreover, blocking the execution of the additional function itself requires implementation of an additional system and leads to a restriction of the use of the additional function even in a restriction area, apart from prevention of illegal information acquisition and leakage. Consequently, user inconvenience is caused and resources are dissipated.